Not because DDG got better, but just because google got worse.

google is still better for site-specific searches, and google scholar still has minimal AI slop

  • ByGourou@sh.itjust.works
    5·
    2 hours ago

    I really tried, I set duckduckgo as the default for my second browser (I use it a lot) to slowly get used to it, but every time results are so bad I get mad and switch to Google especially for images

  • yata@sh.itjust.works
    3·
    4 hours ago

    I switched to it a couple of years ago, with the expectation that I had to resort to google in more complex search instances. But very soon I found out that ddg did the job, and my “alternative” google searches did not turn up anything better, quite the contrary in fact, and I haven’t been back since.

  • fibojoly@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    3 hours ago

    Have been using it for 8 years now. I never felt the need to switch back honestly. Only Google thing I really love is Maps and that’s it.

  • Zeppo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    4 hours ago

    I use it for almost everything. I only resort to Google if I can’t find what I’m looking for, which is rare and typically it’s something obscure. Google has also steadily made their service worse over the years. I don’t feel like I am missing much.

  • Silk@lemm.eeEnglish
    11·
    3 hours ago

    I use Kagi, I really like how it’s AI answer gives sources for statements.

  • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
    15·
    9 hours ago

    Duckduckgo mostly uses Bing for its search results. It also uses yahoo, yandex, and it’s own crawler, but for the most part you’re getting Bing.

    So what you really want to know is if Bing is just as good as Google. If you think it is, you should definitely use ddg because they’re the least intrusive.

  • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    164·
    11 hours ago

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

    …Oh, sorry.

    Hell no. If anything, it’s gotten worse.

    In their defense, however, it’s probably largely not their fault. In my admittedly one-person-sample-size experience, 90% of the searchable Web is either Reddit threads or articles, and with Reddit going officially with Google (meaning DDG doesn’t catch as many Reddit threads as they used to), that leaves most of the searchable Web being articles. Because SEO has to ruin everything.

    So, it’s not really that DDG is shitty (mostly), but that all searches are shitty. Though, with the whole Google-and-Reddit thing, I find Google’s results are noticeably less shitty (though still shitty).

    • Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      2·
      10 hours ago

      The killer for me has to be that it doesn’t support searching for phrases within websites I need. Latest example: github. I can be on the project page, copy a phrase from the code and search ddg with it in double quotemarks, and get 0 results. Copy - google.com - paste - enter - loads of results.

      Also the search function broke for about a day, a few days ago

      • flux@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        6 hours ago

        That’s a bit surprising, given DDG uses Bing, Bing is Microsoft and Microsoft owns Github.

        Did you try the same search with Bing, or have an example to share?

      • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1·
        9 hours ago

        To be honest with you, I didn’t even know that was a feature. (Unless I’m misunderstanding you.) Sounds cool!

        If I need to search a website, I use either Ctrl+F or the site: search engine operator.

  • FRYD@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    30·
    17 hours ago

    I’ve been using DDG exclusively for something like 8 years. It works great for regular text search and I use bing for image searches. I really don’t understand the reluctance of people to switch to it. To me, Google has been borderline unusable garbage for a long time.

    • CarbonBasedNPU@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      8 hours ago

      DDG is slow. Like noticeably slower than other search engines. I have been using DDG exclusively for 2 months at this point and it is wild how much faster brave search is not even mentioning google search.

      • FRYD@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        13 minutes ago

        I’ve actually never tried brave search. Which is kinda funny because I started using DDG when brave came out and it was the default search engine.

        What do you mean by slow though? Like just the webpage loading or the time it takes you to get good results? I’ve never noticed any load time, but I’ve always had a few tweaked content blockers running and that may affect my perspective.

    • serendipity@aussie.zone
      3·
      9 hours ago

      Same here, although I don’t know how long I’ve been on DDG exactly. I never not find what I’m looking for.

    • 0ops@lemm.ee
      1·
      8 hours ago

      I used it for a few years, realized that I had to use bangs every other search, and reluctantly switched back to Google. But now Google is way worse than it was, so I think I might as well try switching back again, see how it feels now.

    • toastal@lemmy.ml
      5·
      14 hours ago

      Cherry on the shit sundae was a couple months ago when Google started to require JavaScript be enabled for search.

      • yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.mlEnglish
        3·
        13 hours ago

        Okay, so this wasn’t just me! I installed NoScript for Chrome on my work laptop as a stop gap for no more ublock origin and thought something was fishy w/ Google’s search page.

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
    6·
    13 hours ago

    I find it’s actually better at this point because it just gives results without AI summaries and ads, also I find it’s just straight up better at actually finding what you’re looking for

    • adarza@lemmy.caEnglish
      3·
      10 hours ago

      i find ddg sufficient for nearly everything. occasionally i will go to startpage or ecosia or mojeek for a different ‘perspective’, but that is not very often at all. i also use wolframalpha almost daily for some sort of calculation or conversion.

      i haven’t used google or bing except by accident when using someone else’s browser or device (that is, when i forget to go to duck.com first).

      • Dojan@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 hour ago

        Yeah. I search for things all the time. Thousands of searches each month. I thought I’d miss it a lot, but I’ve not used Google for two years or so and it’s not really a problem.

    • Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      3·
      10 hours ago

      76% of their Q2 2024 revenue came from adverts. I’d rather pay with capitalist-consumerist shit on my screen than pay with money, but as everyone knows it’s far too invasive rn. Ergo, I use uBlock, sponsorblock and I don’t care about cookies.

  • venotic@kbin.melroy.org
    473·
    22 hours ago

    Not really. If you focus purely on just searching, yeah DDG is decent. But, I find its maps inferior and trying to find answers to some questions can get tedious. DDG I guess is just for people who want guilt-free searching.

        • adarza@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          10 hours ago

          yes, it is. but between it and graphhopper (or osm), it’s “enough” for me.

          i don’t need a feature-filled “app” (my phone is ‘dumb’), and the only time i end up on something else like bing or google maps is if a site i need to use embeds and relies upon them.

          • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.netEnglish
            1·
            3 hours ago

            my problem with apple maps is how frequently it has something’s location completely wrong because osm addresses use the European addressing system everywhere when i don’t live in europe

        • Xanthobilly@lemmy.world
          3·
          20 hours ago

          Agreed. Even if it were identical to Google maps in terms of content, it runs slower on all platforms I’ve so far tried (windows, iOS, OSX).